1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to garments and clothing. It is particularly directed to a gown suitable for wear by a patient in a health care environment.
2. State of the Art
Patients commonly disrobe from their street clothes and don a loose-fitting, smock-like gown prior to undergoing an examination by a physician. The gown desirably provides the physician enhanced access to areas of a patient""s body when compared with ordinary street clothes. Such a gown may be described in generic terms as a hospital gown. Hospital gowns may be employed in any situation where enhanced examination access to a variety of areas of a patient""s body is desired.
A hospital gown will typically have enlarged neck and arm openings to facilitate passage therethrough of a physician""s hand or instrument, and to accommodate patients having a variety of body dimensions. A single rear opening is usually provided, and may have one or more fasteners arranged to hold the edges of the opening closed to preserve the patient""s privacy while walking about. However, it is often difficult for a patient to secure the fasteners, due to their rear location. Furthermore, such fasteners are typically insufficient to maintain the opening closed sufficiently to maintain the patient""s privacy while walking. It is therefore common to see ambulatory patients holding their gowns closed behind their backs with one hand while moving about.
The rear opening of commercially available gowns provides direct access for examination of underlying posterior areas of a patient. However, to examine a frontal portion of a patient""s torso, it may be required for the patient to at least partially remove the gown to expose the desired area for examination. In such case, the patient is subjected to a more intrusive exposure than that required simply to complete the examination. The additional required exposure of the patient""s body may impose negative effects on the patient including coldness and a feeling of compromised modesty. Furthermore, the tied straps forming common closures are positioned such that patients sleeping on their backs unavoidably rest upon potentially aggravating bumps caused by the knots. In view of the current state of the art in hospital gowns, it would be an improvement to provide a gown offering improved access to substantially all areas of a patient""s body while better maintaining a patient""s privacy and improving their comfort.
The present invention provides an apparatus for wear by a patient in a health care environment. The apparatus may generically be termed a hospital gown. A hospital gown according to the present invention permits physician access to substantially any portion of patient""s body while substantially maintaining a protective cover over the unexamined areas of the patient""s body.
A hospital gown according to the present invention typically includes front and back panels between at least substantially open left and right gown sides. Top edges of the panels are typically connected to form a neck opening. Releasable fastening structure is associated with both of the left and right gown sides, and is generally configured and arranged to at least substantially close the open sides of the gown and to allow for release whereby to provide physician access through an opening to selectable portions of a patient""s body for examination while maintaining a cover substantially over the unexamined portion of the patient""s body. Typical fastening structure includes a plurality of paired straps disposed at the gown sides and adapted to bring portions of the front and back panels into overlapable closure. Fastening structure may also include a plurality of strap holes disposed substantially in alignment between an attached first end of a strap and an edge of a panel adjacent to the strap attachment location. In such case, the strap holes are typically disposed to receive a cooperating strap in a stitched relation to improve integrity of an overlap between portions of the front and back panels. A gown desirably has an arm opening of adjustable size. Such an arm opening may be formed between fastening structure, such as a pair of straps, and a gown shoulder. Gowns desirably have a length between a top and a bottom sufficient to fall below a patient""s knee when worn in a sitting position.
These features, advantages, and alternative aspects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in combination with the accompanying drawings.